Now What?

Cohan isn’t selling, Rowell isn’t leaving, Nelson isn’t getting fired, and Jackson isn’t heading to be bench. For those looking for positive changes for this team, there’s pretty much only one hope (besides a miracle Maggette trade): Monta Ellis. As we near the end of the Ellis suspension and word continues to trickle out about his rehabilitation, there’s going to be more excitement (and desperation) that Ellis can immediately return to change the currently toxic culture. But while I’m not fan of the 48 minute studies in frustration that are our recent games, rushing Ellis back in almost the worst thing this team can do.

Following another ugly loss to a Superman-less Magic, Nelson let slip that his small guys simply weren’t as good as the other team’s small guys. Upon that realization, we pretty much have two options: (1) concede by continuing to play our smalls or (2) see if by some miracle our bigs are better than their bigs. The latter option requires experimenting with a large (or at least normally sized) line-up. Nelson toys with the idea occasionally, but his default in the overwhelming number of situations is still to roll out four guards. Ellis’ return will be a red letter day for improving the quality of his small brigade.

There are legitimate concerns about rushing Ellis back from injury related to his future health. The last thing we need is to throw a semi-healed player back onto a team that’s no playoff threat (coach’s words, not mine) only to cause him some permanent damage. Ellis should get the full sign-off from the doctors, then kick back and take another week or two to make sure everything is at full strength. I’m far more concerned about a healthy Ellis for the remaining years of his contract than I am about finding some way to squeak out wins against the Grizzlies and Timberwolves of the league.

Beyond Ellis’ health, however, two things give me pause about his return. The first is a Nelson issue, the second goes to Ellis:

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Another small is the last thing Nelson’s system needs. If I had any faith that Ellis return would push Watson to the bench permanently or cut Jackson’s minutes, I’d be more optimistic. My best guess, however, is that — like Maggette’s return from injury earlier this season — Ellis’ availability is only going to mean fewer minutes for our non-Andris bigs. I’m less worried about what this means for us losing games. That would likely happen with a big or small line-up. My real concern is for the frustration that this will breed as players see good nights rewarded with no playing time (see Kurz vs. Orlando) and selfish, sloppy play overlooked or even rewarded. We’ve invested two high draft picks in players that show great promise. They’ve already shown us more this season than the POBs or Diogus of the past. If we drive them off this team, we are left with Monta and Andris (good, but not enough) and a squad combining increasingly selfish veterans with limited upside walk-ons. If you think things are bad now, imagine how they’d look if we didn’t at least have the hope that Randolph and/or Wright are in our future plans.

This is not the team for Ellis to learn how to lead. Ellis talked before his injury about his desire to be a new leader for this squad. Then came the moped, the lying, and then silence. He’s got a lot of ground to regain to prove that he can be a true leader, but this is not the team to tangle with given his inexperience. When Ellis is confident, he’s nearly unstoppable. When his confidence gets rattled, as we saw in the 07 playoffs, his ability to recover is a question mark. This team is currently smothered in a toxic atmosphere. The veterans that should be leading are the problem, the coach appears to have washed his hands of dealing with the attitude issues (if he isn’t actually creating them), and — most depressingly — the entire mood likely comes from the top of the organization down through the ranks. Monta Ellis might be a good leader, but this is one hell of a challenge for someone already facing some tough reputation rehabilitation.

Ellis shouldn’t be held out as the savior of this team — and he shouldn’t worry about playing that role. He should focus on getting healthy and playing fundamentally sound basketball on both ends of the court. The rest will take care of itself in time, but there’s no reason Ellis should climb into the conductor’s seat on this runaway train.

Hey morons, give Patrick O’Bryant 20-30 minutes per game just for whining, give it to him for 7-8 straight games, and I personally guarantee he’d put up no less than 4 double doubles in that span and look fine doing it.

Bookitansukit. You’re all back to square one, Tank and Nellie Dreams.

Passion Man

The game was lost in the 1st quarter, when Indiana scored 40 pts.
4:43 before the end of the quarter, the score was still 18-19.

But in the last 4:43, dubs played with Turiaf and 4 guards, and Indiana scored 21 pts.

Small-ball ain’t working.

D’ah.

Chris Cohan

All Dead Weight Team (some with higher 2-week variable value than others):

Jackson
Maggette
Belinelli
Azubuike
Watson
Kurz
Crawford

Chris Cohan

Roger Mason > Stephen Jackson/Corey Maggette…

as long as Gregg Popovich is the coach.

Nellie is here to get paid. Pops is here to work.

Chris Cohan

God I wish we had Fernandez.

LEONARD

AVERY JOHNSON.

WHY IS NOBODY MENTIONING THIS GUY. NELSON DOESN’T EVEN PLAY RANDOLPH AND HARDLY WRIGHT TONIGHT, AND ONCE AGAIN THEY GET OUT REBOUNDED AND LOSE. PATHETIC. IF ROWELL AND COHAN DON’T WANT TO EAT NELSON’S CONTRACT THEN MAKE HIM GM AND BRING IN AVERY AS COACH. HE RUNS NELLY’S SYSTEM WITH REBOUNDING AND DEFENSE. CMON TIM, ADAM, CALL FOR NELSON’S HEAD AND START THIS MOVEMENT, WE GOT TALENT, IT’S JUST MISGUIDED AND UNDEVELOPED. IF THEY DON’T FIRE NELSON, TRUST ME, WRIGHT AND OR RANDOLPH WILL GET TRADED EVENTUALLY.

I READ ALL THESE BLOGS, AND NO ONE MENTIONS AVERY JOHNSON. CMON EVERYBODY.

colonel

t**nking should not be mentioned as any sort of reason or excuse for Warriors play this year. That is a lame excuse, a reason for lazy Nellie/Jackson to just go through the motions the rest of this season and not care about the output. I can’t read minds or know how they really feel. But I am not willing to give them that convenient excuse to screw this season up.

I hope Stallone keeps playing well against tougher competition, if only because it makes it easier to package him in a deal to get something closer to a complete player. At least balanced between off/def. Probably a vet.

Nellie has a long history of not developing and/or not getting along with young bigs–since before Webber, and after Ewing. Nowitzki was probably Nelson’s dream big and you see how far in the playoffs that team went/didn’t. Nelson lost interest in any real coaching I think. Too much effort. Kids don’t want to listen. Can’t get the right players to fit the system. etc…I’m in Maui, you know how to get a hold of me.

Small ball: PHO played it better than anyone, NYK plays it now most of the game.

So what?

Maybe NYK calls it “speedball” now, as someone called it the other night when NYK lost to LAL. Ran to a 15 point lead, tired, lost at the end when they ran out of gas.

No team has yet had enough athletes to play “speedball” or “small ball” for 48 minutes consistently. Especially in the playoffs when you have to play the same team night after night. There are more ways to slow the game down than speed it up. Sooner or later, you have to play some halfcourt and guard bigs if you want to win when it counts. In the playoffs.

That’s why Kerr blew up PHO and D’Antoni went to NYK now. Can you imagine NYK signing Nash – he is 34 yr old PG this year. Maybe a 1-2 year deal, then goodbye in 2010, after he trains his replacement.

Son of Ahmed

Colonel,
Good post.

I will keep saying this team is tanking because it seems to be the only plausible explanation for Captain Ahab’s irrational coaching decisions. He’s tanked before and I think he’s doing it now.

If Nelson is tanking, I’m not sure this is the right season to do it. There are no LBJ’s or Tim Duncans in the next draft.

Whether or not he is tanking, the players are being mismanaged and the young players are not being properly handled. Guys like Marco, Wright, and Randolph (hell, maybe even Williams) should be getting consistent minutes. They are the future of the team. I don’t know if Williams is ever going to amount to anything, but I don’t believe he’s getting a fair shake here. He seemed to do ok in back-up minutes with NJ. Here he’s been buried under the scorn of Captain Ahab.

The first round draft picks are not being treated like valued members of the team; they’re reminded of how unready they are while d-leaguers take their minutes. If Nelson is tanking he should at least have the good sense to bring along the young core and not belittle them through the media as he so often does.

Tired

They only get worse.

Humiliation.

Disgust.

Tired

#203. 204

Good posts guys.

This isn’t tanking, its the blurry, incoherent bumbling of a tired old drunk.

Nothing good is happening here.

There really isn’t anything left to say.

Nothing will change, even AM- after Monta.

Book it, Danno.

Tired

The World According to Don, by Yahoo Sports

“He’s an incredible player,” Golden State coach Don Nelson said. “He’s turning out to be one of the top players in the league. He’s a very difficult guard.

“He’s the man right now.”

Of course he is, he played against the Warriors.

If you watched the game, you know who he is talking about.

Tired

Hey Don, who was supposed to be guarding Granger? Huh? What was that?

Tired

Dead thread.

Dead team.

dr_john

208:

Uh, that would be LeBron, s
who has taken it upon himself to guard the opponent’s strongest offensive player.

Whew, that was close.
My sources told me this was not a
designated win game.
Luckily tankmaster Nellie built himself a cushion
in the first quarter.
Otherwise we could have accidentally won this game.
I’ll try and tip you guys off to the designated win games
as I hear about them.
Remember,
a loss is a win
a win is a loss.
watch the games with you minds men,
not your eyes.
No man is lonely while eating spaghetti.

Tired

What Now?

Tired

dr_john

Don’t confuse us with intellect and reason.

It hurts.

Leonard

AVERY JOHNSON COACH , DON NELSON to GM

dr_john

What now dead thread? Hey—

165/212 Crack:

Nice name, wrong drug. 15 years, really? At the Arena? The “O”? Where every $6.00 beverage is laced with Soma. I can see how reality is a difficult read if you’ve been hangin’ there. But re: the tanking. Is it Rubio, or Curry, or Patty Mills (Nash Jr.)?

If I could understand you I could agree or dispute, but in the meantime I’ll just join the Don in a bowl of belly pasta…

Cheers, and, bottoms up!

Crackticioner

Those of you angry at Sjax
should be aware that he is
on board with the solution.
He knows the plan and
Nelson calls on him when he needs him.
Tank you D. Granger and Sjax.
It’s one step back for two
steps up.
The pain is only temporary.
It won’t hurt you if you see it for
what it is. Only an illusion, a room of mirrors
reflecting only what you allow your mind to see.
a loss is a win
a win is a loss
If you can see, your vision will vanish your pain.

dr_john

Crack:

Thanks I’m down wid it. You are well-connected for sure. So do me a favor, please: at the Celtics game on the 26th when he fumbles the ball in the lane please just yell out “Dr John says if you don’t get back over half court before the trailer scores on a put back I’m gonna have Nellie pull ya’ (for at least one play)”.

Thanks, I can’t be there.

And thanks also, I get your point(s).

Damon

U
G
L
Y
we ain’t got no alibi
that was UGLY UGLY UGLY

JustPuked

#67 Rich Mithchmond
Really? Who the hell has time for MULTIPLE aliases?

moweejim

The six teams who fired coaches so far this year should come to the Bay Area and read the Chron Warrior bloggers, because there appears to be a wealth of BB knowledge, experience, vision and perception to hire a coach. These knowledgeable bloggers would appear and claim, they know more then Nellie, who other then Phil Jackson (who had Michael) and Red Auebach (who had Russell), has the best coaching record in NBA history! But the reality is thats what Talk Radio and Blog Sport sites allow “wannabes” a place to vent. He’s not going any place and shouldn’t!

http://www.instructables.com/member/LeanaGinnery68/ Denita Conninghan

Thanks a million and please carry on the enjoyable work. Its like you read my mind! You appear to know so much about this, like you wrote the book in it or something. I think that you could do with a few pics to drive the message home a little bit, but other than that, this is wonderful blog.